Matt Damon in talks to star in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium

Matt Damon is in talks to star in the next science fiction project from Neill Blomkamp, whose debut film District 9 was nominated for four Academy Awards earlier this year.

Blomkamp has pitched Elysium as a tale of the far future on another planet, though the term traditionally refers to a section of the underworld in Greek mythology (the Elysian Fields, or Elysian Plains, were the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous). The film will once again star Sharlto Copley, the South African actor who was the breakout star of District 9, and has apparently managed to emerge unscathed from his turn as "Howling Mad" Murdock in The A-Team movie earlier this year.

Deadline reports that Damon is in the early stage of negotiations. Blomkamp is keeping details of Elysium under wraps, but it sounds like the unnamed science fiction project that he discussed at last year's Comic Con convention in San Diego.

"I've got one science fiction idea that I'm absolutely in love with, which I'm pretty sure is going to be my next film. Ninety-nine per cent sure," Blomkamp said at the time. "It's totally original, it's my own story ... It's set on another planet, but it's cool. It's violent, very violent, and very unique hopefully. We'll see."

Meanwhile, Damon's other forthcoming releases include Oscar contender True Grit, a Coen Brothers' remake of the classic John Wayne western, and Philip K Dick adaptation The Adjustment Bureau.